Sorachi Red IPA

[alsch890]

Hi there,

I have a pile of hops in the freezer including a packet of Sorachi Ace. I've never used them before and tbh I haven't really enjoyed beers I've had thst use SA. I don't want to do a Saison or lighter lager which a lot of forums and homebrewers recommend. I have a range of malts in stock including Carared (bought for an Irish Red which is on my brew list) which I've also never used. Anyway, that's the background, here is the proposed recipe :

Aiming for 19l boil, 15l batch. 5.5% abc and about 60 ibu

3.4kg pale malt
500g Carared
250g Melanoidin
250g Carapils

20g Sorachi Ace @60
20g Sorachi Ace @15
30g Sorachi Ace @whirlpool

Safale US-05

30g Sorachi Ace dry hop. 5 days or so.

Any comments, suggestions, ideas? Not sure if 500g is too much carared? I wouldn't normally go so high with a caramel malt.

 

[An Ankoù]

Never used the stuff. I see Brooklin Brewery use it and I'm not fond of their beer. Seems a fair experiment, though. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[matt76]

I do 10-12L ish batches so I'll try not to confuse things by referring to weights.

But from my notes I've used 7% carared in my black IPA and 9.5% in my ESB, both of which were really good.

The only question I'd have is whether the additional carapils in your recipe is then too much...

I'm planning to make a rye IPA soon - I know that's a bit different but the recipe calls for about 10% carapils plus another 8% of various crystal malts - so I'd guess you'll be ok as long as you balance it with the appropriate bitterness.

Oh, and I also made a red IPA of my own recently which is really tasty. Best way I can describe it (happy to be corrected if I'm wrong!) is it's like a hoppy bitter, like a bitter but using more fruity American hops but much less intense than an AIPA.

Good luck

 

[alsch890]

Thanks @matt76 , thats really helpful. I tend to add about 200g of carapils to a lot of brews by default. My last but one brew was a Rye IPA actually, this was my grain bill:

Pale 3.25kg
Rye 1kg
Cararye 450g
Caramunich III 300g
Carapils 200g

for a 15l batch (1.064 OG, 1.015 FG).

Which excluding the carapils has about 15% "crystal" or altogether is around the level you are looking at. It should be ready to drink this week or next so I will let you know how it turns out.

 

[alefric LeHendz]

I had a Brooklyn brew shop American afternoon wheat beer that used Sorachi Ace and personally I thought it was rather nice

 

[Mrhandsome]

I've got something similar planned for tomorrow

10 litres

2kg Vienna
300g carared
200g rye
200g Cara rye

10g sorachi at 20 mins
20g at 10
20g 5 day dry hop

Fermented with Oslo Kveik

I may even split the dry hop and hop at high krausen, not sure yet though.

 

[alsch890]

Just going back to this thread. The Rye IPA I brewed was in my top 5 brews.

@Mrhandsome how did yours go?

 

[Mrhandsome]

Currently carbing up as we speak, I'll probably try a bottle out this weekend.

 

[Mrhandsome]

Tried mine out today and it's not quite there yet, still extremely murky and browner than I wanted. I can taste some lemon from the hops, spicy robust rye, and a bit of Kveik tang that will probably age out, and a little residual sweetness so I think it could do with another week of carbing perhaps.

Not my best brew, but drinkable. I think I'll give this a month before trying again.

 

[Mrhandsome]

It's warmed up now and it's better, it looks and tastes a bit like a Belgian strong ale I made a while back and that was very nice by the last bottle.